Special Issue "Micro Flow Controllers"

Guest Editor
Dr. Joost Lötters
¹ Transducers Science and Technology (TST), MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, PO Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands
² Bronkhorst High-Tech BV, Nijverheidsstraat 1A, 7261 AK Ruurlo, The Netherlands
Website: http://www.utwente.nl/ewi/tst/members/
E-Mail: j.c.lotters@ewi.utwente.nl
Interests: Design; fabrication and application of microfluidic handling systems, including MEMS thermal and Coriolis flow sensors and controllers, MEMS control valves and micromachined analytical instrumentation such as micro GC, micro HPLC and micro Wobbe index meters.

Dear Colleagues,

Worldwide, accurate measurement and control of small and extremely small mass flow rates of both gases and liquids is becoming more and more important, driven by numerous economically important applications in for instance semiconductor industry, analytical instrumentation, energy, and micro reaction systems. Accordingly, we hereby announce a special issue addressing advances in design, modeling and simulation, fabrication, and characterization of micromachined mass flow sensors and controllers. Such devices have typically critical feature size on the order of ~1-500 μm and process or design control on a microscale. We invite submission of papers on devices for accurate measurement and control of (extremely) small mass flow rates of both gases and liquids, and corresponding measurement and control principles, for instance the thermal, ultrasonic and Coriolis principles for flow measurement, and the piezo-electric, electromagnetic and electrostatic principles for flow control. Related novel systems concepts, electronic instrumentation and application proposals are acceptable contributions. Moreover, innovative methods in calibration equipment and methodology, micro- and nanomachining, device characterization, etc., are of interest.

I am looking forward to receiving your valuable contributions!

Dr. Joost Lötters
Guest Editor

• flow sensors
• mass flow sensors
• flow controllers
• mass flow controllers
• thermal flow sensors
• Coriolis flow sensors
• ultrasonic flow sensors
• actuators
• valves
• control valves
• MEMS
• micromachining
• electromagnetic actuator
• piezo-electric actuator
• electrostatic actuator

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Design Issues for Low Power Integrated Thermal Flow Sensors with Ultra-Wide Dynamic Range and Low Insertion Loss
Authors: Paolo Bruschi ¹ and Massimo Piotto ^2
1 Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Informazione, Università di Pisa, via G. Caruso, 16, 56122 Pisa, Italy; E-Mail: p.bruschi@iet.unipi.it
² CNR IEIIT – Pisa, via G. Caruso, 16, 56122 Pisa, Italy; E-Mail: massimo.piotto@cnr.it
Abstract: Flow sensors are the key elements in most systems for monitoring and controlling fluid flows. With the introduction of MEMS thermal flow sensors, unprecedented performances, such as ultra wide measurement ranges, low power consumptions and extreme miniaturization, have been achieved, although several critical issues have still to be solved. In this work, a systematic approach to the design of integrated thermal flow sensors, with specification of resolution, dynamic range, power consumption and pressure insertion loss is proposed. All the critical components of the sensors, namely thermal microstructure, package and read-out interface are examined, showing their impact on the sensor performances and indicating effective optimization strategies. The proposed design procedures are supported by experiments performed using a recently developed test chip, including sensing several different sensing structures and a flexible electronic interface.